Search Results (13)

Many parents and professionals believe that learning to speak, read and write in two languages can lead to academic deficiencies due to cognitive overload and the risk of confusion linked to handling two language codes. Therefore, some bilinguals abandon or are tempted to abandon one of the two languages, often the first language, in exchanges with their children, in favor of the language of schooling. However, all recent scientific data tend to show that bilingualism is an asset more than a handicap. Nevertheless, these positive results most often concern English-speaking contexts and are not directly transposable to a French-speaking context. Drawing on the results of our work carried out in Oceania and in other territories, this article will deal with bilingual development and the impact of educational systems that promote the heritage or local languages from primary school. More specifically, the oral language of the bilingual, biliteracy and the effects of cross-linguistic transfer will be addressed. Results from both longitudinal studies in New Caledonia and French Polynesia, confirmed by other studies conducted in Sub-Saharan African, show a positive effect of the bilingual education curriculum on local language (Drehu and Tahitian) skills without having negative effects on French. We demonstrated that the expected effects of cross-linguistic transfer are only possible if the pupils learn to read and write in the two languages (local language and French). Additionally, learning to read in one of those local languages makes it easier to learn to read in French, which has a more opaque writing system. Full article

Simultaneous bilingual and bicultural children who are schooled in the dominant societal language can acquire literacy in their home language through home literacy practices and weekend school. Twenty-eight Japanese-English bilingual–bicultural children (ages 9 to 14) attending English weekend schools in Japan were assessed using the standardized Test of Written Language (TOWL, 4th ed.). Their overall age-adjusted writing scores showed that most were on a par with same-age US peers. The parents’ responses to parental questionnaires revealed that the children’s regular attendance and enjoyment of weekend school, coupled with parental home support and access to plenty of appropriate English reading materials, helped to establish their English literacy. Nevertheless, the children attained different writing scores. Although many performed within the Average range, some scored either in the Above Average or higher range or the Below Average or lower range. Further analysis of these three groups of children revealed a strong relationship between reading practices and writing scores. Better writers tend to read frequently in English; they enjoy reading independently and voluntarily. These findings underscore the importance of recreational reading as an accessible and affordable means for developing home language literacy in bilingual and bicultural children in Japan. Full article

This study was designed to examine the role of early bilingual home literacy experiences (HLE) (including parent–child shared reading, parents’ direct teaching in Chinese and English, the availability of books in both languages, and children’s access to digital devices for bilingual learning) in the biliteracy development of 66 Chinese–Canadian first graders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive analyses reveal that overall, parents report higher engagement in English than in Chinese across the four HLE measures. Parent’s engagement in bilingual HLE differs by gender, SES, and immigration status. Pearson correlational analyses of English reading, decoding, and bilingual oral receptive vocabulary reveal that the four dimensions of HLE are not strongly related to English early literacy skills but are positively related to Chinese receptive vocabulary. Finally, hierarchical regression analyses indicate that the availability of books in Chinese and parent–child shared reading in Chinese are key factors associated with Chinese receptive vocabulary score variance; the amount of time using digital devices is found to be significantly related to English reading comprehension, but not Chinese vocabulary; and parents’ direct teaching is not significant with either English early literacy skills or Chinese receptive vocabulary. These findings have important implications for parental engagement in early bilingual home literacy activities and early literacy instruction in school. Full article

Most D/HH learners experience language deprivation because they lack full access to a comprehensible language input. Sometimes, this language deprivation continues through school because of the rigid school language policy and teachers’ failure to recognize and include all the linguistic repertoires which the learners bring. Like many other teacher education programs, some Deaf education teacher preparation programs have adopted assimilationist ideologies, subtractive approaches to bilingualism that focus on only the majority hearing language, English, or the majority Deaf people’s language, such as ASL. Embracing translanguaging improves the implementation of bi/multilingualism in Deaf education by empowering the learner and the teacher to work through these challenges of language deprivation and minority languages in classrooms with Deaf learners. The current article reviews the literature and draws from translanguaging theory and practices, biliteracy, and Crip linguistics to discuss how Deaf education teacher preparation programs can support future teachers in implementing translingual knowledge, skills, and disposition and avoiding linguistic neglect in Deaf learners. In addition, the article will focus on how teachers can value and support the acquisition of all languages beneficial for bi/multilingual Deaf learners to overcome language deprivation and challenges in school. Full article

We present cross-sectional research to verify whether learning to read in Italian (the participants’ mother language and majority language) is delayed when simultaneously learning to read in English (a second language not spoken in the country). Available evidence considering the specific combination of bilingual orthographies being acquired suggests that there should not be adverse effects on the Italian literacy outcomes of Italian–English immersion students. To verify this hypothesis, the Italian reading performance of three groups of bilinguals educated in 50:50 Italian–English immersion programs in Grades 1, 3 and 5 were compared to that of three control groups of Italian monolingual peers attending mainstream monolingual Italian schools. The second aim was to examine the impact of an Italian–English immersion program on English language and literacy skills. To pursue this goal, we examined the English performance of the bilingual group across Grades 1, 3, and 5. Finally, we aimed to verify whether the language and reading attainments exhibited by the bilingual children in Italian were correlated to their English performance. The results show that bilingual children were not less proficient in Italian than monolingual children; improvement in English was observed across all grades, and performance in Italian was correlated with performance in English. Full article

Despite efforts on the part of institutions, professionals and social agents, the Roma population in Europe still lacks equal access to education. Difficulties in literacy development are at the root of this: Roma learners present lower literacy rates than non-Roma learners and learners in non-segregated schools, preventing them from transitioning to secondary education. This article presents the results of ethnographic research with a group of Roma primary learners in Southern Spain. The aim was to analyse the contexts, interactional spaces, contents and practices of learners’ engagement with literacy in and outside the classroom. Data analysis was carried out using an adaptation of the continua model of biliteracy, useful for analysing literacy practices in contexts with different literacy cultures. Results show that communicative practices that challenged skills-based literacy models helped activate learners’ literacy reservoirs, enhancing their literacy engagement and allowing them to renegotiate their position as Roma learners in a non-Roma institution and as text creators in the classroom. Conclusions point to the need to decolonise classroom practice by identifying learners’ literacy reservoirs and ways to activate these, contributing to a more inclusive and sustainable model of literacy education consistent with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal for quality education. Full article

The decay in the proficiency of the native language (L1), known as first language attrition, is one of the least understood phenomena associated with the acquisition of a second language (L2). Indeed, the exact cause for the deterioration in L1 performance, be that either the interference from L2 acquisition or the less frequent use of L1, still remains elusive. In this opinion paper, we focus on one largely understudied aspect of L1 attrition—namely, the erosion of the L1 orthographic knowledge under the influence of L2 orthography. In particular, we propose to study differences in orthographic processing between mono- and bilingual populations as an approach, which, in turn, will allow to address both cognitive and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying L1 attrition. We discuss relevant experimental paradigms, variable manipulations and appropriate research methods that may help disentangle the largely debated question of L2 interference vs. L1 disuse, clarifying the nature of the L1 orthographic attrition. Full article

Pedagogical translanguaging has emerged as an important strategy facilitating the sustainable use of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) in educational settings. This mixed-method study, conducted in an EMI finance classroom at an international school in Shanghai, China, investigates the translanguaging practices of students in classroom interactions as well as their attitudes toward translanguaging as a communicative and pedagogical strategy. Drawing on video-assisted classroom observations and semistructured interviews, this study reveals that the participants’ translanguaging practices are motivated by ease of communication, facilitated by contextual resources, and reflect their strategic maneuvering of the linguistic resources in their repertoires. The data also suggest that the participants are generally positive about translanguaging as an aid in comprehension and for the enhancement of content learning. Some participants, however, expressed reservations about the acceptance of translanguaging as a standard, formal linguistic choice. The findings suggest that EMI teachers should recognize the linguistic resources of students in their entirety and incorporate them into classroom activities to promote biliteracy and the learning of academic content. Full article

Phonological awareness is a skill which is crucial in learning to read. In this paper, we report on the challenges encountered while developing a digital application (app) for teaching phonological awareness and early literacy skills in Dhuwaya. Dhuwaya is a Yolŋu language variety spoken in Yirrkala and surrounding areas in East Arnhem Land. Dhuwaya is the first language of the children who attend a bilingual school in which Dhuwaya and English are the languages of instruction. Dhuwaya and English have different phonemic inventories and different alphabets. The Dhuwaya alphabet is based on Roman alphabet symbols and has 31 graphemes (compared to 26 in English). The app was designed to teach children how to segment and blend syllables and phonemes and to identify common words as well as suffixes used in the language. However, the development was not straightforward, and the impact of the linguistic, cultural and educational challenges could not have been predicted. Amongst these was the inherent variation in the language, including glottal stops, the pronunciation of stops, the focus on syllables as a decoding strategy for literacy development and challenges of finding one-syllable words such as those initially used with English-speaking children. Another challenge was identifying culturally appropriate images which the children could relate to and which were not copyrighted. In this paper, we discuss these plus a range of other issues that emerged, identifying how these problems were addressed and resolved by the interdisciplinary and intercultural team. Full article

The paper discusses the implementation of a bilingual education language policy in the context of endangered indigenous sign language—Icelandic Sign Language (íslenskt táknmál, ÍTM). Unlike other indigenous endangered languages (e.g., Sámi), or other sign languages (e.g., American Sign Language, ASL), ÍTM has received certain recognition typically associated with equitable language policy—by law, it is considered the “first language” of the deaf/hard of hearing Icelanders; further, Iceland overtly states that ÍTM-signing children must be educated bilingually. However, we show that as a country that has committed itself to linguistic equality as well as the support of indigenous languages under the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, Iceland still has a way to go—both in terms of language attitudes and the associated implementations. We analyze the current situation focusing on the issues of bilingualism and biliteracy (vis-à-vis indigeneity and endangerment), explain the reason for the state of affairs by contextualizing the barrier to both for signers, and offer an explicit path forward which articulates the responsibilities of the power structures as well as potential outcomes related to revitalization, should these responsibilities be fulfilled. Full article

This study describes the validation of a reading assessment developed for speakers of Scottish Gaelic, an endangered language spoken in Scotland. The test is designed to investigate the areas of reading for understanding, reading errors and reading speed. This study will present the data on a group of Gaelic/English speakers on both the Gaelic and the English version of the test and of a group of English speakers on the English version of the reading test, aiming at comparing reading abilities in children attending a Gaelic medium education (GME) and children in English medium education (EME) living in the same urban area. The paper reports two studies. The first study presents data on 77 children bilingual in Gaelic/English recruited across four levels of primary school on reading in Gaelic. The second study looks at the performance on a version of the test adapted for English, comparing the performance of two groups of children (bilinguals Gaelic/English and monolinguals English) on several linguistic skills, including sentence comprehension and reading. About 40 monolingual English subjects in EME, living in the same urban area, were administered the English version. The reading abilities of the children attending EME and GME schools were comparable, supporting the idea of no disadvantage on reading from attending a school with the medium of a minority language. If differences were found, these were in favour of the bilingual Gaelic/English children, who attained better results in all linguistic tasks in English in the older groups. Full article

This study focuses on comparing the growth trajectory of border and non-border school districts regarding their fifth-grade students’ performance on a standardized reading test. Using a growth hierarchical linear model, we investigated the effect of time, school location, and their interaction on students’ reading performance through the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading test in five recent school years. It was found that border school students lagged behind in reading at the initial stage when STAAR was first administered. As time went by, the gap between border and non-border district students’ reading performance remained. Implications for teaching pedagogy and research are discussed regarding the preparation of border district students to become bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate. Full article

Genre pedagogy plays an important role in helping graduate students to enter the discourse community of their fields. Although familiarity with research genres benefits graduate students, few studies have explored the influences of instruction on learners’ subsequent generic practices. In this study, we describe the genre-based approach used in a bilingual (English and Spanish) Applied Linguistics graduate course, which aimed to enhance students’ research genre awareness to allow them to be better able to confront their own work as investigators. The description of the course is followed by a study to determine if and how a research article discourse analysis task influenced the students’ academic writing in their own papers. Our research question was the following: To what extent can course instruction influence students’ academic writing? The study entails a survey to elicit students’ perspectives on the influence of the course and its tasks on their academic writing, as well as teachers’ comments on the students’ written work. Although learning to do research at the graduate level requires a broad range of competencies that go beyond genre awareness, the findings from the survey confirmed the positive effects of genre knowledge gains in accomplishing further research goals. Full article